What’s all this about claims that Tiger Woods is suspended for drug use? Here is what you need to know.

It’s unfortunate that in the digital age that even the craziest, most baseless of claims get attention.

The claim by a former tour player that Tiger Woods is not out of golf recovering from an injury, but is in fact serving a month suspension after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs is one of these.

This unfortunate incident has been doing the rounds of late – to the appreciation of golfers everywhere.

A video posted by @golfgrinders on Feb 12, 2015 at 6:11pm PST

You may recall Tiger Woods playing his miraculous bunker shot from his knees in the 2012 Open Championship. The result, given the circumstances was a very good one. The ball finished on the green and Woods was left unscathed.

The same can’t be said for this poor bloke who gave it his best shot and ended up with a face full of sand.

Lydia Ko was all class after her victory at the Women’s Australian Open last weekend.

Great story from Mark Hayes at Golf Australia today on Lydia Ko’s classy gesture after her win at the Women’s Australian Open.

After Ko’s impressive two-stroke victory at Royal Melbourne on Sunday, Ko reportedly slipped an envelope containing $500 to the club’s assistant general manager to put on the bar for the post-tournament staff party.

Hayes writes that Royal Melbourne’s chief executive was gobsmacked:

Ko wandered up the clubhouse stairs to make her last brief scheduled stop at the champion’s cocktail party, then quietly slipped an envelope containing $500 into the hands of assistant GM Andrea Watson to kickstart the staff’s “after-party”.

VIDEOS

New Australian golf show launches on 7Two: The Bunker

The Bunker is a brand new Australian golf show that will be launched on 7Two this coming Sunday. According to the minimalist official website, the show will be “a tongue in cheek look at the inspiring and often frustrating aspects of one of the world’s most popular sports.”

The golf show will be hosted by Shura Taft, former Australian professional golfer Anna Rawson and former Melbourne Demon’s footballer Russell Robertson, and will run for six weeks beginning March 1.

Hallway golf with Charles Barkley and Hugh Grant: video

From the department of “This isn’t really golf?!” comes this wacky segment from The Tonight Show.

Jimmy Fallon played a game of hallway golf with Hugh Grant and Charles Barkley on The Tonight Show last week.

Barkley of course is best known for his friendly meet-up with Shane Heal at the 1996 Olympics, but not far behind is his infamous, stuttering golf swing. Fallon seems surprised to see that Grant has a decent golf swing but he’s been playing golf for years and regularly plays in the Dunhill Links Championship each year.

Watch Sergio Garcia’s unlikely par at Riviera: video

Sergio Garcia has carded one of the more adventurous par’s at this week’s Northern Trust Open.

Sergio Garcia is still one of our favourite golfers to watch. Garcia’s stunning ball striking combined with the his erratic nature has led to some heart-breaking, but captivating moments in his career. You never quite know what is going to happen next.

Like on Saturday at Riviera. A wayward drive at the 13th hole found the bunker on the 10th hole and it required something special to avoid dropping any shots.

Lydia Ko wins Women’s Australian Open: media conference video

Even after making a PGA Tour event playoff, one golf fan still didn’t know who James Hahn was.

Like many golf fans, our knowledge of James Hahn is mostly limited to his Gangnam Style dance after a birdie that made headlines a few years ago. But on Sunday, Hahn won his first PGA Tour title, winning the Northern Trust Open at Riviera by beating Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey in a playoff.

He may be better known after the victory, but after the round Hahn recounted how on young golf fan didn’t know who he was or that he’d even made a playoff.

Lydia Ko plays it tall, cool and smart to win the 2015 Women’s Australian Open.

Lydia Ko has become the youngest ever winner of the Women’s Australian Open when she beat Korean Amy Yang by two strokes at Royal Melbourne today.

Ko was tied for the lead with Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn going into the final round. Jutanugarn’s run at the title fell away after three bogey’s in her opening seven holes but the big challenge came from South Korea’s Amy Yang.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak has a great piece on Adam Scott’s curious new putting routine.

You may have noticed Scott straddling the line of the putt then holding out a couple of fingers. He looks to be determining the break or picking the line putt somehow. It turns out the latter is true and it’s based on a putting technique he was taught to Scott earlier this year.

From Schupak’s column:

Brad Malone, Scott’s coach and brother-in-law, is the one who persuaded Scott to experiment with a long putter in 2011.

Unfortunately we aren’t able to view the Golf Channel in Australia but there are plenty of great videos on the website including a new show called Lesson Tee Live which is hosted by Australia’s Annabel Rolley.

Rolley is a golf professional from Brisbane who began working as a trainee professional at Royal Sydney Golf Club before accepting a teaching role at the Trump National Golf Club in New York.

Golf trick shot videos abound these days but this one has been doing the rounds this week is pretty good.

San Diego State University women’s golf team had some time on their hands and compiled a whole range of golf tricks shots – some yo’ve seen before, some you haven’t. All set to that Mark Ronson track that is everywhere right now.

New and updated; the 2015 list of the best places to buy golf gear online in Australia.

Golfers are crazy for the latest golf gear and are fervent in their search for the latest driver, new irons, golf balls or golf clothing. There are now more options than ever to buy from Australian online golf stores – some offering great daily deals and free delivery. But with them have come a stack of dodgy online sellers offering fake golf equipment.

Regularly rated as one of Australia’s finest golf courses, Royal Canberra Golf Club has a fascinating history, and now looks to have an interesting future ahead of it.

Royal Canberra is always rated as one of Australia’s best golf courses and I’d been wanting to walk its fairways like some of the world’s best had, for many years. Arnold Palmer reportedly got out of the car when he arrived for the Dunlop Tournament in 1970 to ask whether he was in Australia or at Augusta National, and Greg Norman fired a 62 to shatter the course record when he played and won the ESP Open in 1988.

Not as well known as some other Adelaide golf courses, Glenelg Golf Club is fast becoming one of Australia’s best.

A stinking hot Adelaide day would mean only the toughest (or perhaps craziest) golfers would be enduring the heat. So things were pretty quiet as made my way to Glenelg Golf Club late in the afternoon, still with plenty of time to fit in eighteen holes.

Glenelg Golf Club is situated on the western side of Adelaide, just 15 minutes out of the city.

OTHER RECENT POSTS

Scott Piercy found how difficult the great par-4 10th hole is a t Riviera Country Club.

The par-4 10th hole at Riviera Country Club in California is one of the most famous short par-4’s in golf. The drivable hole brings with it an alluring chance of birdie but an equally good chance of making bogey, or worse.

As Scott Piercy found out this morning during the opening round of the Northern Trust Open.

Ryder Cup captains have been announced for the match-up in Minnesota in 2016.

Darren Clarke and Davis Love III have been named captain’s of the European and United States teams respectively, for the 2016 Ryder Cup to be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.

Clarke was odds on to get the captaincy for Europe with only Miguel Jimenez looking like a serious contender. Jimenez said that while he would like the captaincy, he would be doing his best to be a playing part of the European Team.

World number one Lydia Ko fronted the media yesterday ahead of the opening round of the Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.

The 17-year-old has been on top of the Rolex World Golf Rankings for only a few weeks but is already talking about retirement. Ko has a very sound head on her shoulders and the full interview makes for fascinating viewing as she chatted to the media about the pressures of being world #1, studying psychology at college and the delay in getting her driver’s license.

With such a great field at Royal Melbourne for the 2015 ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open this week, picking a winner is no easy task.

This week’s 2015 ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open has one of the best fields in Australian golf tournament history. Four of the world’s top-10 golfers will be vying to win the Patricia Bridges Bowl at Royal Melbourne; world number one Lydia Ko, China’s Shanshan Feng (#4), Korea’s So Yeon Ryu (#7), and defending champion Karrie Webb (#9).